It’s not for “Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Kennedy,” which occupies the 20,000-seat arena that night and features two world title fights of world-class caliber.

Instead, it’s for Caged Combat 6, which takes place about 40 miles down the road at Spirit Mountain Casino in a 1,750-seat event center. There are four billboards around Portland advertising the event. Two days from the show, 1,500 tickets have been sold, according to its promoter, Charles Grijalva.

An hour earlier at the Courtside Club Room, two reporters sit in four rows of chairs designated for the media during a pre-event press conference held midday inside the Rose Quarter. The top-billed fighters are present, as is Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker. A full PR team from big-brother promotion UFC is on duty, the men at the dais answer questions, and broadcast partner Showtime films the proceedings.

Looking at the stage, it’s your average press conference. Looking toward the audience, it feels like a forgotten event.

The gate-busting UFC 148 event took place this past Saturday, and exhaustion lingers for UFC staffers who went straight from Las Vegas to Portland. UFC on FUEL TV 4 took place Wednesday in Strikeforce’s hometown of San Jose, Calif. The summer MMA schedule is in full swing.

Does Portland know it?

“I just came from Vegas, where they had 2,000 people at the weigh-in,” Tyron Woodley, who fights onetime UFC middleweight title challenger Nate Marquardt for the vacant Strikeforce welterweight title, told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “I think it’s a disrespect to Strikeforce. It should be advertised a little bit more.” (In actuality, the estimated weigh-ins crowd at UFC 148 this past week in Las Vegas was closer to 8,000, which exemplifies Woodley’s point.)

TV ads for Rockhold vs. Kennedy did play on commercial breaks for UFC on FUEL TV 4, which aired Wednesday on FUEL TV. The Showtime-produced spots cast middleweight champ Luke Rockhold as the surfer dude to challenger Tim Kennedy’s military hero. Not all are thrilled with that angle.

“I think it sucks,” Rockhold blurted during the presser. “They’re struggling, man. A fighter/athlete/surfer? C’mon. How am I supposed to look against the Army Ranger/warrior/Green Beret? That’s what I hate about it.”

Then, he jokingly added: “And the fact that he can wrestle. I hate wrestling, man.”

Kennedy and Rockhold take the dreary surroundings in stride, which lightens the mood in the room. Asked to give trash talk a shot and say what he hates about Rockhold, Kennedy quipped: “His charming good looks irritate me to the core.” Later, when he’s asked probably for the millionth time whether his military service helps him prepare for fights, he lamented Coker won’t let him bring an M-1 Abrams tank into the cage.

“I shoot things,” he said.

But at the presser’s conclusion, which clocks in just under 17 minutes, he’s conflicted. On one hand, he’s aghast at the turnout and lack of media interest. And on the other, he says he doesn’t care.

“Take a picture,” Kennedy said. “There’s not a single goddamn reporter here. There’s four of you guys. This is two title fights for Strikeforce. It’s crystal clear that nobody gives a [expletive]. They don’t. I knock Rockhold out on Saturday night? Changes nothing for me. Nothing in, like, what media publications are going to cover me, who talks about me, sponsors I’m going to get. Do you know how much money I didn’t make in sponsors for this fight because nobody cares about Strikeforce? It’s insane.

“I’m fighting one of the best fighters on the planet. Not top 10 – like top five. I’m very confident that both Luke and I would clean house all the way to the top one or two guys in the UFC that could finally give us a fight, and nobody cares. It doesn’t make any sense. Just the ignorance of the sport and the athletes, there’s no way we can change that unless you let us fight other guys outside of the organization, and that’s just not going to happen.

“I fight for me. I don’t fight for the media, which is very clear, right? I fight because I want to know I’m the best I could have been as a fighter.”

Those on Saturday’s card won’t be fighting in a vacuum, of course. Showtime has pulled strong ratings despite sagging box-office figures for Strikeforce. It’s produced a star in women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey. It could produce another in Woodley, Rockhold, Kennedy or Marquardt.

But it’s clear the promotion, at this moment, is no longer an event. It’s a TV show in an arena.

“This is the best card of the year, from top to bottom,” Woodley said. “There’s not a bad fight on the card. It’s Portland, and everybody doesn’t live on this coast, so it’s tough for them to travel. But in reality, that’s why we have it on Showtime.”

As the UFC 189 tour made its last stop in Dublin, featherweight champ Jose Aldo was met with a torrent of abuse from the Irish fans. It might have been unpleasant, but it might also have been just what he needed.